DLC content enabled without owning the DLC?

Danikat

I'm not sure if this is a bug, an oversight or some weird attempt at marketing but I've managed to pick up an item for a Clockwork City quest without owning the DLC and without an active subscription. (I did visit the Clockwork City during a previous free ESO+ trial weekend, but not on this character and only picked up 1 daily quest, which I completed.)

I was exploring the Aldunz delve in Alik'r and picked up the Construct's Chestplate. I wasn't sure what it was (the info box said 'museum piece' but that didn't mean much) so I googled it and found out it's one of the items required for the quest/achievement The Precursor in The Clockwork City. Which is kind of frustrating because I had decided not to buy the DLC yet, until I've finished some of the other stuff I have to do in the game. So now I'm going to have to carry this around with me indefinitely, because I'm not sure I'd be able to get another if I destroyed it.

It would be better IMO if items like this worked like the Thieves Troves - everyone can see them but if you don't have the DLC or an active subscription you get a message saying you cannot interact with it.

Shadowshire

One of my characters has had the Construct's Girdle (or Pelvis -?-) in the Bags for quite a while now. I do not know exactly how it was obtained, perhaps by looting the corpse of a Boss in a delve. But the character has never been in the Clockwork City zone.

What aggravates me is that it is bound to the character. So it cannot be deposited in the Bank, sold to a vendor (GP value is zero), or traded/gifted to another player. I haven't yet tried to stow it in a Homestead chest or coffer, but I doubt that is allowed. It cannot be placed in a Homestead as a "trophy". Nonetheless, if I decide that I need the Bag space for other items, then I suppose it can be destroyed.

Danikat wrote: »

I'm not sure if this is a bug, an oversight or some weird attempt at marketing but I've managed to pick up an item for a Clockwork City quest without owning the DLC and without an active subscription. ....

I was exploring the Aldunz delve in Alik'r and picked up the Construct's Chestplate. I wasn't sure what it was (the info box said 'museum piece' but that didn't mean much) so I googled it and found out it's one of the items required for the quest/achievement The Precursor in The Clockwork City. Which is kind of frustrating because I had decided not to buy the DLC yet, until I've finished some of the other stuff I have to do in the game. So now I'm going to have to carry this around with me indefinitely, because I'm not sure I'd be able to get another if I destroyed it.

It would be better IMO if items like this worked like the Thieves Troves - everyone can see them but if you don't have the DLC or an active subscription you get a message saying you cannot interact with it.

If your character found the Construct's Chestplate, but you don't have access to the DLC, and your alternative were adopted, then perhaps your character(s) would have to return to the Aldunz delve to find the Construct's Chestplate, i.e., if you subsequently wanted the "The Precursor" achievement.

Regardless, the Construct's Chestplate and the Construct's Girdle Pelvis probably can be found in the Clockwork City DLC zone after a player decides to gain access to it, and play a character(s) there. If the piece is "Unique", then while the piece is in a character's Bags, either it will not be listed in a loot dialog, or, if it is listed, the software won't allow the character loot to it.

Obviously, inclusion of the Construct's Chestplate and the Construct's Girdle Pelvis in the "Base Game" content are blatant "hints" from ZOS marketing that we should gain access to the Clockwork City DLC (preferably sooner than later), regardless of whether we want to play a character there any time soon.

Beginning with the Wrothgar DLC, TESO designers have ordinarily adopted ways to "advertise" each new DLC in-game, and ways to "link" the new DLC to existing content -- by changing part of, or adding to, the existing "Base Game" content. But I cannot recall a DLC which has been subsequently modified to "link" it to a new DLC, for example, by introducing a new quest that takes the player's character to the new DLC.

There are quests in the original "Base Game" which require the character to travel to another zone in order to complete them. Some such quests are initiated by finding an item which the character must deliver to an NPC, or the quest may be given by an NPC and completed by contacting another NPC at the destination. So, from the perspective of TESO design, there is a precedent for adding items and quests to the Base Game as "updated" content that connects it to a new DLC.

GreenhaloX

Just get ESO+. It's really not that much. That's just beer money. I used to grab a 12-pack a couple times a week, but no issue dropping a 12-pack and use that money for ESO+. Plus, the game is all about craft bag, unfortunately. Without it, you're missing out big time on materials. You also get access to all available DLCs and missing out on those dailies that give high XP. Then, you shouldn't have to fret so much about running into pieces needing to be dropped within the DLC location.

Danikat

I'm hardly fretting, and I already said I'm going to buy the DLC when I'm ready to play it.

I just thought it might be a bug so I posted a bug report.

magictucktuck

Those pieces are found not only in cwc but in droves throughout Tamriel. You just need dlc to turn them in. You can just delete it.